Love Compared Five People, Night, Slumdog Millionaire

There’s a four-letter word that no one can explain. Yet everyone witnesses it in some way shape or form...either towards a relative, a friend, a lover, or an obsession. It’s a four-letter word that creates the strongest attractions. It’s a four-letter word that has existed throughout all eternity and beyond. It’s a four letter word that is so simple yet so complex. It’s a four-letter word that no one, not any person on the face of this earth can live without. And what is this four letter word you ponder to yourself…. well this four-letter word is love. Love is found everywhere around the world from now until centuries ago. For hundreds of years people have felt and dealt with many different types of love from sacrificial love to lost love to romantic love to unconditional love to the love of humanity. Through the years people have written novels, films, and short stories dealing with the theme of love and all the ways it is shown. All the different kinds of love are relevant in the three works The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, Night by Elie Wiesel, and Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan. Through the characters actions, feelings, and experiences the theme of love shines evidently. “Eddies father beat him. Then he met a girl. He went to war, killed civilians, hurt his leg. He came home. He married the girl, worked as a mechanic. The girl died. Then he did.”(Heffernan, 1) The paraphrased description of the all-inspiring novel, The Five People You Meet In Heaven, may seem to be completely irrelevant to the theme of love, yet in conclusion the whole novel is. The types of love are never-ending throughout the entire novel. Through the five characters that Eddie meets, they each teach him something new along with a different type of love that he never knew existed.
The strongest of all the types of love he learns is the concept of lost love, which he learns from his deceased wife of forty-seven years, Marguerite. Marguerite was Eddie’s only true love and only happiness during his time on Earth and he was devastated when he lost her and believed she was taken away from him to early. He believed that his love for her died when she passed on however she explains to him that his love came as a different type of love…“Lost love is still love, it takes a different form. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around the dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it. Life has to end, love doesn't.”(Albom, 173) The concept of lost love helps Eddie realize that he did not loose her love and she didn’t loose his, which helps him become at ease with his life he lived. Eddie learned through Marguerite even after one has passed on the power of love withstand forever even from Earth to Heaven. Not only did Marguerite influence one type of love on Eddie but a completely other one, yet very similar. Although the type of love recognized was not as evident as lost love, the type of love…romantic love was evident through Eddie and Marguerite’s relationship.
The romantic love between Eddie and Marguerite was evident through the way he missed her. She was the one woman who left an imprint of Eddie’s life and made him truly happy. Although he felt like their love was torn away from him after her death, he believed that "every life has one true-love snap shot."(Albom, 9) As Eddie did the first time he fell in love with the young Marguerite as they danced to the music of the band and as she waved goodbye in her yellow dress he kept that snapshot to feel the “arterial burst of love”(Albom, 9) when he thinks of her. Eddie and Marguerite’s romantic love was eternal even if their love changed to a different type. As Eddie continued his life, he watched different types of love evolve.
During Eddie’s life he was part of World War II, where he fought in the Philippines. His commanding officer, also know as Captain sacrificed his life to save his the four soldiers he was leading, Eddie being one of them. Eddie never understood the concept of why he did it until he met with his former Captain in Heaven. The Captain taught Eddie the type of love known as sacrificial love, when you sacrifice your life or something to protect the ones you love. When the Captain checked the path in front of his soldiers to make sure nothing could harm them, he unfortunately lost his life due to a landmine, he exemplified sacrificial love. Although Eddie felt horrible about this news he heard, the Captain reassured him by telling him “Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.”(Albom, 94) The Captain shows that although his life was precious and he lost it, he saved the lives of the four soldiers he left behind, showing how he believed in sacrificial love strongly. The sacrificial love from the Captain leads into the last type of love in the novel... the love of humanity.
The love of humanity exemplifies into all the different kinds of love that Eddie experiences. Through this type of love, also comes the idea that forgiveness is love. Throughout Eddie’s life, he met people who forgave him and who he had to forgive. The first person Eddie met, the Blueman, exemplifies the love of humanity; although Eddie caused the Blue Man’s death, the Blueman forgave him because for him to grow he had to let go of his past. Through the Blueman’s love of humanity he forgave Eddie even though he didn’t know him. Not only did the Blueman forgive Eddie for the cause of his death, but also another character, Tala forgave Eddie for her death. Eddie killed Tala on accident during World War II, but she forgave him in Heaven because Eddie was the keeper of the children; through his giving back at the pier she forgave him as he cleared the burnt skin from her body. From the Blueman and Tala, Eddie had to learn how to forgive his father for not letting him be who he wanted to be and follow his dream. However, he realizes through Ruby that the “blade of hatred isn’t only hurting his father but is curved and hurting Eddie as well” (Albom, 141), and he needs to forgive his father. Although the love of humanity of Eddie wasn’t always there he gained it through the experience of forgiving his father. Through the love of humanity Eddie realized what is was like to be human and how everyone is connected like the Blueman said; the love of humanity is not only about loving one another but loving one another through anything and forgiving them.
The four types of love from the Five People You Meet in Heaven are not only apart of this novel but continue into other works. Romantic love, sacrificial love, and the love of humanity are relevant in the other works Night and Slumdog Millionaire. Other types of love are also relevant in the other two works.
“In unsentimental detail, Night recounts daily life in the camp—the never-ending hunger, the sadistic doctors who pulled out golden teeth, the Kapos who beat fellow Jews.”(Donadio, 1) The unimaginable novel, Night by Elie Wiesel is story of the real truths of the unfortunate genocide of millions also known as the Holocaust. The daily struggle of Jews and many other minorities was incredibly harsh and inhumane; so harsh that no one would ever think that the theme of love would be in a novel dealing with the Holocaust, but in fact love is overflowing in it.
A father and a son love each other unconditionally and help each other extraordinarily especially during a time of struggle like the Holocaust. The father, Chlomo, and son, Eliezer, from the novel Night, exhibited many acts to show a certain type of love that conquers all, this love being unconditional love. Throughout the whole novel Eliezer idolizes his father; he respects him and his judgments and trusts him especially in the dangerous situations in the Concentration Camps. The bond immediately grew between them and it showed their true, unconditional love for one another. With their unconditional love for each other growing by each daily struggle, they faced many challenges where they had to help each other to survive. For example, Chlomo began to get terribly sick from starvation and coldness and Eliezer, even though being terribly hungry himself, gives his father his piece of bread so his father can survive. This showing that even though Eliezer was starving himself, his compassion to keep him father alive was more important. Eliezer showed his unconditional love to his father towards the end of the novel also. When the prisoners of the Holocaust were being transferred to another camp in the freezing snow, Eliezer had many thoughts in his head to give up and fall and get trampled to death but when he saw his father running next to him out of breath and out of strength he knew he couldn’t let himself die because he was his father’s only support. (Wiesel, 82) Eliezer once again made his unconditional love for his father evident through the way he didn’t give up because of the love he has for his father to keep him alive. Towards the end of the Night, Eliezer’s unconditional love for his father never dies even when his father begins to. When Chlomo begins to die Eliezer is a “safe guard to his father”(Smith, 234), Eliezer does not leave his father’s side; he tries to feed him and make him survive even if the German officers shout at him. The bittersweet moment when Chlomo believes he is ready to die he gives his son a knife and spoon (Smith, 234), which shows his love toward his son. When Chlomo passes away but Eliezer’s unconditional love for him does not end; as the soldiers try to take the body away, he argues to have the right type of burial service for him, although he cannot. Through Eliezer’s persistence it shows the unconditional, undying love and respect between the father and son.
Through the unconditional love between Eliezer and Chlomo, the type of love, sacrificial love evolved. As Eliezer and Chlomo loved each other unconditionally, they also sacrificed their life to help each other survive which showed their sacrificial love towards one another. When Eliezer gave his father his piece of bread so his father didn’t die he exemplified sacrificial love because he sacrificed his hunger for his father’s life. With the unconditional love he had for his father, Eliezer did not mind sacrifice even his life for him. When Chlomo was dying, Eliezer never left his side even when officers gave because he loved him so much and his sacrificial love was so strong that he didn’t care about losing his life for his father. Eliezer’s love for his father was never ending so he never worried about sacrificing his life for his father.
Unconditional love and sacrificial love erupts into random acts of love not just from the Chlomo and Eliezer but also from random people in the concentration camp who become like family. The prisoners of the camps would take care and help one another even though they were experiencing the same depressing situation. An instance of random acts of love in the novel is when a relative of Eliezer and Chlomo named Stein brings them a piece of bread at Auschwitz telling Eliezer to not get weak and dried up because he will be picked for selection, when paradoxically Stein was weak and dried up. (Wiesel, 42) Another random act of love is when the little French girl helps Eliezer after he is struck by an officer of the camp, although they cannot understand each other she gave him a mournful smile and slipped a piece of bread in his hand and told him to be strong and not cry because the day will soon come. (Wiesel, 51) This shows the little French girl’s love to the random people who need it even if it is a stranger.
The Holocaust was one the most inhumane and horrifying events in the world’s history, however in Elie Wiesel novel, Night, he managed to include the idea of the love of humanity. All the prisoners of the Holocaust had to help each other to survive and to survive all the prisoners had to have some type of love of humanity to keep them alive. The only thing that kept Eliezer going and surviving through the Holocaust was the love of humanity that he knew. He believed that no man could be this horrible to let this many people die; he had faith in the love of humanity that him and the other prisoners would survive. Although the Germans may have being the most inhumane people in the novel, the other prisoners were humane to each other. Through their actions towards each other their love of humanity was revealed. Like random acts of kindness and unconditional love, the random acts and unselfish things they do shows that they want to help each other survive because they love humanity. By giving people their own food when their starving to soothing each other when hurt to risking their lives to save one another the prisoners’ love of humanity is evident. By keeping faith with the love of humanity, Eliezer and the other prisoners survived because with that love it helped them never give up.
“A modern fairy tale about a pauper angling to become a prince, this sensory blowout largely takes place amid the squalor of Mumbai, India, where lost children and dogs sift through trash so fetid you swear you can smell the discarded mango as well as its peel, or could if the film weren’t already hurtling through another picturesque gutter.”(Dargis, 1) Through this description of the film Slumdog Millionaire the theme of love seem like it could never be relevant. But through the grotesque slums of India, a fairy tale with love of different kinds does in fact erupt between the characters Jamal, Salim and Latika. The sacrificial, romantic, and unconditional love between the three make the film Slumdog Millionaire, indeed a modern fairy tale.
Jamal, Latika and Salim sacrifice each other’s lives for each other multiple times in the film, which shows their love for each other and through this love comes sacrificial love. Starting from when the three were young, Salim sacrifices his life by throwing acid on Maman’s face so the three can escape from him who is blinding children to make them beggars. At a young age, Salim exemplifies his sacrificial love because he loved the ones he was rescuing enough to sacrifice his life. As they grow older, Salim once again sacrifices his life to rescue Latika from Maman by shooting him and killing him so she can escape. The reason he does this is because he knows how much Jamal loves her and because he loves his brother he is willing to sacrifice his life to save her. As the film continues, Latika sacrifices her life multiple times for her love Jamal. She attempts to escape Javer, who is holding her captive for her virginity for money, multiple times to meet with Jamal because she want to be with him; she risks her life to be with the love of her life which shows her sacrificial love for him. Latika not only sacrifices her life for Jamal but also her virginity. Although Salim knows how much Jamal and Latika love each other, Salim wants to rape Latika and when Jamal finds out and tries to rescue her she tells him to leave after Salim pulls a gun on him. Latika sacrifices her priceless, pure virginity so Jamal can survive; this shows her sacrificial love for him. Lastly, Salim, after all the wrong doings to his brother, loses his life for Jamal and Latika to be reunited. He gives Latika his car keys and cell phone to allow her to escape and find Jamal. The reason of the sacrificial love between Jamal, Salim and Latika is because the love they have for each other is so strong that they will do anything to help each other although it doesn’t seem like it all the time.
From Salim and Jamal’s’ sacrificial love toward one another branches the brotherly, unconditional love of the two. Each time Salim and Jamal sacrificed something for one another they also show their unconditional love toward one another. Although the brother’s fight and betrayed each other, a chance that the two had to help each other they did. Salim’s unconditional love toward Jamal not only shown through his action of rescuing him from Maman but from saving Latika so she could be with Jamal. The unconditional love shines between the two through no matter what happens they forgive each other and no matter how much betrayal there is between the two there is always a chance to sacrifice their life because they love one another. The unconditional, brotherly love between Jamal and Salim aids to the romantic love between Latika and Jamal.
Although Jamal and Latika’s love story was rather muted according to Rahul Harold in his letter to the editor, it is possible to see the love form with a deeper in look. Through the two’s struggles to focus on a love story was rather hard but it did in fact form and was very strong. From when they were younger, Latika and Jamal have always loved one another. When Jamal first took Latika in calling her the third musketeer when his brother thought it was a bad idea to have her join them, it showed his young, growing romantic love towards her. The two were head over heels for each other throughout the whole film, and wanted to do anything to be with each other, even if it met risking their lives. Latika showed her romantic love through sacrificing her life and virginity to be with the man she loved and to keep him alive. Jamal wanted to do anything to be with Latika, even when she told him to do one thing and forget her. (Slumdog) However, Jamal showed his love for her by telling her “I'll wait for you at the train station every day at five.”(Slumdog) until she came and stayed with him. Jamal and Latika’s love for each other was never ending throughout the film, even though they thought they would “only meet again in death”(Slumdog), their romantic love for each other endured until they were together.
Lost love, sacrificial love, unconditional love, romantic love, the love of humanity and random acts of love occur throughout the works Five People You Meet in Heaven, Night, and Slumdog Millionaire, and relate to one another through the characters actions and emotions.
Sacrificial love erupts multiple times through the three works Five People You Meet in Heaven, Night and Slumdog Millionaire through the Captain, Eliezer, and Salim, Jamal, and Latika. All five characters sacrificed their life or something for one another because they loved the people they were helping. Like Salim sacrificed his life to let Latika escape to go be with Jamal, the Captain sacrificed his life to make sure that Eddie and the other soldier’s survived and Eliezer sacrificed his life to stay by his dying father. Salim, the Captain, and Eliezer all sacrificed their lives to rescue and save people they cared about, although the ones they saved didn’t always listen to them. Salim forgave his brother and his brother’s love after abandoning him and he died so they could be together. Like Salim, the Captain’s troops disobeyed his commands by not leaving the fire but he still sacrificed his life so they didn’t lose theirs too. Along with Salim, Eliezer the Captain, Latika risked her life so Jamal could survive; she told him to leave even though she was risking her life and virginity by staying in the room with Salim. Like Latika, Eliezer sacrificed his starvation to save his father because he loved him so much. Through their sacrifices they showed how much they loved the ones they helped because they wanted to make someone else’s better.
Through sacrificial love comes the idea of unconditional love, which was exemplified through the two works Night and Slumdog Millionaire. Like the relationship between Eliezer and Chlomo, the relationship between Jamal and Salim was also unconditional especially through times of struggle. The four characters wanted their loved one to survive through the horrible experiences they went through. When Eliezer gave his father his own bread when starving he was showing his compassion to him because he wanted him to survive, like this incident Salim risked his life to have Jamal escape from Maman because he wanted his brother to survive. The unconditional love between them shows that no matter what the situation is, they will help their loved on because it’s the bond between the two. They are willing to sacrifice their life for the one they love to have them survive. Although there was times where Eliezer wanted to give up on Chlomo and when Jamal and Salim did give up on each other, their unconditional love was never ending because fatherly or brotherly bond is never ending.
The romantic love between Eddie and Marguerite from The Five People You Meet in Heaven and between Jamal and Latika from Slumdog Millionaire blossoms from the idea of unconditional love. The two couple’s unconditional love for one another shows their romantic love for one another. The couples loved each other tremendously even when they were separated, like when Marguerite passed away and when Latika was taken away from Jamal. Eddie always loved Marguerite even when she was gone and through how much he missed her showed how much he loved her. Like Eddie, Jamal never gave up on loving Latika, although she was away from him multiple times, he waited at the train everyday until she was there. Also through the way both Eddie and Jamal had a “snapshot” of the woman they loved showed how much they romantically did love and adore them. Eddie had the snapshot of Marguerite dancing to their song while Jamal had the snapshot of Latika at he train station; these snapshot stayed with the men forever because they romantically adored and loved their woman.
The last type of comparable love is the love of humanity, which is in the works Five People You Meet in Heaven and Night. Although Mitch Albom’s concept of the love of humanity is different than Elie Wiesel’s, the concept is still similar. Although Eliezer did have the most inhumane experiences, he compared to the Blueman and Tala because they learned that no matter how horrible things were he knew it would be better and they could forgive. Eliezer never gave up on his idea of the love of humanity nor did the Blueman or Tala. They forgave the people who did horrible things to them because it was unfortunately life. Although the works may have dealt with different experiences, the idea of the love of humanity is never-ending. The theme of love is found everywhere around the world in different types of works especially in the three works mentioned above: The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Night and Slumdog Millionaire. Through Eddie’s experiences with lost love and romantic love with Marguerite and his lessons of sacrificial love and the love of humanity through the Captain, Blueman, and Tala the theme of love became extremely evident. From theme of love of The Five People You Meet in Heaven moved onto a different novel but with the same theme of love, Night. Through Eliezer’s experiences in the Holocaust camps, he learned the importance of sacrificial love and random acts of love also the unconditional love with his father grew greatly, this making the theme of love in the novel ignite. Lastly, through Jamal, Salim and Latika from the film, Slumdog Millionaire, the theme of love is seen through the types of love, sacrificial, romantic, and unconditional, that the characters share. Sacrificial love, lost love, romantic love, unconditional love, and the love of humanity shine evidentially through the character’s actions, feelings, and experiences that creates the never-ending, undying theme of the three works, love.